Post by mark on Oct 10, 2015 14:54:06 GMT -5
All done!
I'm pretty happy with the results, all told. I picked up a few new modeling tips from the 'net (here and elsewhere), my painting is better, I spent more time in the cockpit, and I think it shows!
- I painted the whole SEA camo job with ModelMaster enamel, then used a Tamiya acrylic clear-gloss, then the decals, then Tamiya clear-flat. I'm pretty pleased.
- Gun barrels: 18g & 20g hypodermic needles, fitted coaxially within each other. Heated with a torch, then quenched in oil, and they're appropriately "parkerized & blackened". The pitot tube in the tail is a 20g needle, left shiny & clean. Here's the part I don't get: when I first read on line that hypo needles make great guns & pitot tubes, my first reaction was "don't you need a 'script to buy those?", but indeed I was able to buy them on-line, no questions asked, and they arrived at my door 3 days later. I later learned that you absolutely, certainly, positively must have a Dr's Rx script. So what's up with THAT??
- Ordnance: Yeah, I wend a bit overboard, 'encouraged' by the MERs that came in the Hasegawa "Weapons A" kit, but I think the result looks awesome! By my calculations, the loadout weighs in at about 10,800 pounds, and an A-1 could hoist about 8,000. Ah, so what....!! It doesn't have to get off the ground....it just needs to sit there & look cool!
- Mk82 bombs: A lot of the pictures I've seen show the fuse safetys connected to the racks with wires, so I decided to do just that. With a very small (.010") drillbit, I put a hole in the fuse. Then I twisted 2 pieces of 32AWG wire and made dinky little cables. It adds a wee little bit of detail, I think.
- Brake lines: the landing gear has a hydraulic brake line molded into it, but it ends at the bottom knuckle. I heated some sprue, and made some brakeline hoses, and connected from the gear to the caliper. I saw a pic on line of these being red, so I decided to paint them as such.
- Hydraulic lines on the ejector seat....they're on the port-side of the mechanism, but the kit doesn't provide anything. More stretched & bent sprue, and the hydraulics are now in place!
- Oil: These were old, tired planes before the Vietnam conflict arose! While researching the Skyraider, I read several first-had accounts of pilots who spoke to the oil that came out of the exhaust because the rings in these old engines were "loose", at best. One pilot wrote about "...not being afraid of running out of gas, but rather running out of engine oil & seizing up". Another wrote about how the ..."most treacherous part of the mission was getting out of the plane with all that oily sludge all over the fuselage & wing..." So I went a bit heavy on the smudging, with a thinned mix of Testors flat black and ModelMaster rust. I applied with a brush, then blew it with my compressor. I don't think I could have done much better.
- Wear: These were old planes, and they took abuse. So all leading edges needed to be beat up a bit. A small file + judicious use, and the wings & cowling show the signs of hard use.
Anyway, here are some pictures! Getting decent pics is harder than making the model!
Please critique openly. I'll never get better unless others make suggestions!
I'm pretty happy with the results, all told. I picked up a few new modeling tips from the 'net (here and elsewhere), my painting is better, I spent more time in the cockpit, and I think it shows!
- I painted the whole SEA camo job with ModelMaster enamel, then used a Tamiya acrylic clear-gloss, then the decals, then Tamiya clear-flat. I'm pretty pleased.
- Gun barrels: 18g & 20g hypodermic needles, fitted coaxially within each other. Heated with a torch, then quenched in oil, and they're appropriately "parkerized & blackened". The pitot tube in the tail is a 20g needle, left shiny & clean. Here's the part I don't get: when I first read on line that hypo needles make great guns & pitot tubes, my first reaction was "don't you need a 'script to buy those?", but indeed I was able to buy them on-line, no questions asked, and they arrived at my door 3 days later. I later learned that you absolutely, certainly, positively must have a Dr's Rx script. So what's up with THAT??
- Ordnance: Yeah, I wend a bit overboard, 'encouraged' by the MERs that came in the Hasegawa "Weapons A" kit, but I think the result looks awesome! By my calculations, the loadout weighs in at about 10,800 pounds, and an A-1 could hoist about 8,000. Ah, so what....!! It doesn't have to get off the ground....it just needs to sit there & look cool!
- Mk82 bombs: A lot of the pictures I've seen show the fuse safetys connected to the racks with wires, so I decided to do just that. With a very small (.010") drillbit, I put a hole in the fuse. Then I twisted 2 pieces of 32AWG wire and made dinky little cables. It adds a wee little bit of detail, I think.
- Brake lines: the landing gear has a hydraulic brake line molded into it, but it ends at the bottom knuckle. I heated some sprue, and made some brakeline hoses, and connected from the gear to the caliper. I saw a pic on line of these being red, so I decided to paint them as such.
- Hydraulic lines on the ejector seat....they're on the port-side of the mechanism, but the kit doesn't provide anything. More stretched & bent sprue, and the hydraulics are now in place!
- Oil: These were old, tired planes before the Vietnam conflict arose! While researching the Skyraider, I read several first-had accounts of pilots who spoke to the oil that came out of the exhaust because the rings in these old engines were "loose", at best. One pilot wrote about "...not being afraid of running out of gas, but rather running out of engine oil & seizing up". Another wrote about how the ..."most treacherous part of the mission was getting out of the plane with all that oily sludge all over the fuselage & wing..." So I went a bit heavy on the smudging, with a thinned mix of Testors flat black and ModelMaster rust. I applied with a brush, then blew it with my compressor. I don't think I could have done much better.
- Wear: These were old planes, and they took abuse. So all leading edges needed to be beat up a bit. A small file + judicious use, and the wings & cowling show the signs of hard use.
Anyway, here are some pictures! Getting decent pics is harder than making the model!
Please critique openly. I'll never get better unless others make suggestions!
